Solve for $x$ and $y$ using elimination. ${-2x-4y = -20}$ ${-2x-5y = -24}$
We can eliminate $x$ by adding the equations together when the $x$ coefficients have opposite signs. Multiply the bottom equation by $-1$ ${-2x-4y = -20}$ $2x+5y = 24$ Add the top and bottom equations together. ${y = 4}$ Now that you know ${y = 4}$ , plug it back into $\thinspace {-2x-4y = -20}\thinspace$ to find $x$ ${-2x - 4}{(4)}{= -20}$ $-2x-16 = -20$ $-2x-16{+16} = -20{+16}$ $-2x = -4$ $\dfrac{-2x}{{-2}} = \dfrac{-4}{{-2}}$ ${x = 2}$ You can also plug ${y = 4}$ into $\thinspace {-2x-5y = -24}\thinspace$ and get the same answer for $x$ : ${-2x - 5}{(4)}{= -24}$ ${x = 2}$